


Making Time For Her

by raendown



Series: NaNoWriMo 2020 Drabbles [40]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-23 22:04:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21327394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: Shikamaru knows his wife. He knows that she loves to help, loves to give, and he knows when she's given too much.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Nara Shikamaru
Series: NaNoWriMo 2020 Drabbles [40]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533161
Comments: 10
Kudos: 143





	Making Time For Her

Shikamaru felt a little creepy keeping tabs on his partner’s chakra all day long. He consoled himself with the knowledge that this wasn’t an everyday thing, definitely not a habit he was going to pick up, and Sakura had given her consent beforehand. If not for that he was sure he would have felt a lot more disgust with himself as the day wore on.

It wasn’t so much that he needed to know where she was at all hours of the day. If he cared about that sort of thing he had no doubt Sakura would rather quickly convince why he really _shouldn’t_. What she did with her day was her own business. But things had been hard on her lately and although she was pretty good at hiding it Shikamaru could see how much it was all wearing on her these last few days. Carrying the weight of her own problems was hard enough. Taking on everyone else’s as well was just too much without a break.

Alone in the shade of a large oak tree, Shikamaru lifted his chin to glare up at the windows of the hospital’s fifth floor. Sakura had been alone in her office for a good chunk of the day just as she had hoped to be but he could feel two different signatures heading that way who had no business disturbing the head of the hospital right now.

He was up on his feet in an instant, moving with the kind of speed most would not expect from him, and a moment later found him lounging in front of his wife’s office door inspecting his nails like he had nothing better to do. One of young nurses he’d felt approaching came to a screeching halt as they rounded the corner to find him there. Shikamaru waited. Then he had to give the young man at least partial points for bravery when he squared his shoulders and took another step forward.

“Excuse me but I need to speak with Sakura-sensei.”

“No you don’t.” Shikamaru didn’t bother looking up from his nails.

“I- Yes I do. This is an urgent matter–”

“Don’t think I don’t recognize those forms. Any other doctor could help you with those forms, they’re not exactly high clearance. Look, I get it, she’s impressive and you want to make a good impression on her. But she’s busy right now so scram.” When he looked up from his nails finally the other nurse had arrived, standing just behind the first, though she was smart enough to spin on her heel and bolt the moment he caught her eye.

After a brief staring contest the first turned to leave as well but not before boldly looking Shikamaru up and down as though to question who was he to make such decisions on Haruno Sakura’s behalf. Shikamaru waited until the hallway was empty to roll his eyes and let himself in to the dark office.

“Are they gone?” a small, tired voice asked from the desk.

“Yeah, I sent them packing.”

“I could have helped them, you know.”

With a shake of his head Shikamaru crossed the room to brush hair away from his partner’s face. “Yes, you could have, but where would that leave you? Even farther behind on your own work than you were before.”

“I don’t mind,” Sakura insisted.

“You never do, And that’s the problem. You need to take a little time for yourself, love, or you’ll end up giving all of yourself away.” Catching her face between both hands, he traced her cheeks with his thumbs in gentle strokes. “Every time someone asks you for something you say yes and it’s killing you.”

Sakura stared up at him with doleful eyes. “How can I say no when they ask me to help?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted because that was a damn good question. It just wasn’t in her nature to turn someone away if they were in need, whether that need be paperwork or healing or just a shoulder to cry on.

“Well then what am I supposed to do?” she asked, a hint of a smile appearing. “Stop being me?” That was a good sign. If she had enough energy to tease him then it seemed her mood was improving from this morning when she was so bone-weary she almost couldn’t make it out of bed.

“Just promise me that you’ll take some time for yourself soon, okay? You need a break. If you keep carrying everyone else’s weight around pretty soon you’ll snap. And I signed up to have a whole wife, not two halves of a wife snapped apart. That’s just bothersome to think about.”

Sakura laughed and it was like watching just a little bit of pressure lift from her shoulders. There was no changing who she was, she would always be someone willing to take on everyone else’s problems as her own, but if she was willing to accept his help then he would offer all the support he could. Even if that support had to come in the form of lying in wait outside her office just to turn away the interns looking to build a bit of rapport with the head of hospital when she was much too busy for that. He would help her learn to respect her own limits if it was the last thing he did. What were loving partners for, after all?


End file.
